Picspam

It’s hard to believe I witnessed this launch—my very first shuttle launch—seven years ago. (Not from the above vantage point, obviously.) Truthfully, it’s hard to believe I saw it at all. I never stop feeling amazed, and humbled, and so fortunate to have been there. I remember the launch as a whole-body sensation: the vibrations from the ground to the top of my head, and the crazy crackling sounds. The raw emotion. It was a beautiful thing.

After more than 13 years at Saturn, and with its fate sealed, NASA’s Cassini spacecraft bid farewell to the Saturnian system by firing the shutters of its wide-angle camera and capturing this last, full mosaic of Saturn and its rings two days before the spacecraft’s dramatic plunge into the planet’s atmosphere.

During the observation, a total of 80 wide-angle images were acquired in just over two hours. This view is constructed from 42 of those wide-angle shots, taken using the red, green and blue spectral filters, combined and mosaicked together to create a natural-color view.

Six of Saturn’s moons — Enceladus, Epimetheus, Janus, Mimas, Pandora and Prometheus — make a faint appearance in this image. (Numerous stars are also visible in the background.)

The sky glows with soft pinkish colors of fading twilight in this serendipitous mountaintop vista. Taken in subfreezing temperatures, the thoughtfully composed photo shows snowy, rugged peaks seen from a mountain pass on November 14. Below lies the village of La Villa, Alta Badia in Italy’s Dolomite Alps. Above the nestled village lights, the constellation Ursa Major hangs over the northern horizon. But most stunning is the intense fireball meteor. It was captured during the camera’s exposure by chance as it flashed east to west across the northern horizon, under Ursa Major’s familiar Big Dipper asterism. In fact, sightings of this major fireball meteor were widely reported in European skies, the most reported fireball event ever for planet Earth’s American Meteor Society and the International Meteor Organization. The meteor’s measured track over Germany is consistent with its origin near the active radiant of November’s Taurid Meteor Shower. Taurid meteors are associated with dust from Encke’s comet.
— APOD, November 17, 2017

By the time you read this, Cassini will be no more, having completed its Grand Finale mission by diving into Saturn’s atmosphere. It’s always sad to see a mission end — especially one yielding such fantastic observations, data, and imagery — but 20 years is a good run by any standard, and Cassini will be transmitting observations of Saturn’s atmosphere until its systems fail.

After two decades in space, NASA’s Cassini spacecraft is nearing the end of its remarkable journey of exploration. Having expended almost every bit of the rocket propellant it carried to Saturn, operators are deliberately plunging Cassini into the planet to ensure Saturn’s moons will remain pristine for future exploration—in particular, the ice-covered, ocean-bearing moon Enceladus, but also Titan, with its intriguing pre-biotic chemistry.

Beginning in 2010, Cassini began a seven-year mission extension in which it completed many moon flybys while observing seasonal changes on Saturn and Titan. The plan for this phase of the mission was to expend all of the spacecraft’s propellant while exploring Saturn, ending with a plunge into the planet’s atmosphere. In April 2017, Cassini was placed on an impact course that unfolded over five months of daring dives—a series of 22 orbits that each pass between the planet and its rings. Called the Grand Finale, this final phase of the mission has brought unparalleled observations of the planet and its rings from closer than ever before.

On Sept. 15, 2017, the spacecraft will make its final approach to the giant planet Saturn. But this encounter will be like no other. This time, Cassini will dive into the planet’s atmosphere, sending science data for as long as its small thrusters can keep the spacecraft’s antenna pointed at Earth. Soon after, Cassini will burn up and disintegrate like a meteor.

To its very end, Cassini is a mission of thrilling exploration. Launched on Oct. 15, 1997, the mission entered orbit around Saturn on June 30, 2004 (PDT), carrying the European Huygens probe. After its four-year prime mission, Cassini’s tour was extended twice. Its key discoveries have included the global ocean with indications of hydrothermal activity within Enceladus, and liquid methane seas on Titan.

And although the spacecraft may be gone after the finale, its enormous collection of data about Saturn—the giant planet itself, its magnetosphere, rings and moons—will continue to yield new discoveries for decades.

I still remember, vividly, the first time I saw Saturn in a telescope, at a star party long ago. Cassini brought my favorite planet into such detail, in amazing colors and textures. (Hexagon clouds? Really, Saturn?? You are seriously so cool.)

As usual, Bill Ingalls takes the best photos, period. Forever. These are from Sunday’s landing of the Soyuz capsule, carrying astronauts Peggy Whitson and Jack Fischer, and cosmonaut Fyodor Yurchikhin.

The Soyuz MS-04 spacecraft is seen as it lands with Expedition 52 Commander Fyodor Yurchikhin of Roscosmos and Flight Engineers Peggy Whitson and Jack Fischer of NASA near the town of Zhezkazgan, Kazakhstan on Sunday, Sept. 3, 2017 (Kazakh time). Whitson is returning after 288 days in space where she served as a member of the Expedition 50, 51 and 52 crews. Yurchikhin and Fischer are returning after 136 days in space where they served as members of the Expedition 51 and 52 crews onboard the International Space Station.